Using
Migrations

"What Is the
Migrations Project?"

Migrations is a stand alone project, developed
by Patrick Hays, designed to further migrations research and develop a comprehensive
database to assist genealogists in their endeavors. Migrations is a tool which all online genealogy researchers should be able to use.

"How do I
use it?"

Migrations
consists of two separate parts. The first, and the meat of the
project is the Migrations Database. The database can be searched
either by name or by place. Whether you find what you want in the
database or not, Migrations consists of a second part: links. The
Migrations links system consists of a National Migrations Links page, and
a table of state links. If you didn't find your relative in the
database, you may have better luck in finding your family on one or more
of the links that we offer. If you did find them, you can use the
links to find more information about them. Make sure to check all
links that look appropriate. You never know exactly where you will
find that elusive person. Remember that the Migrations database is
being built with information from researchers just like you. they
have offered their information in the hopes that you will offer yours so
you may both find the people you are looking for. And at Migrations,
we need YOUR help!

"How can
I help?"

There are many
ways to help. The most simple and basic way is by submitting
the information that you have about your family. You can also volunteer to
host a county or state. For more information on hosting a county or
state, see our Volunteers FAQ.

"What do
I need to do to submit information?"

2. Enter as much information
as you can. However, please follow these instructions, which we have
set up to maintain data integrity. Not following these instructions will lead to a delay in processing:

A. No
living individuals please. We are interested and involved in
maintaining internet privacy as best we can. Information submitted
concerning living individuals will not be added to the database. All relatives who are submitted who were born after 1910 must have a deathdate or they will be deleted.

B. The
Migrations system (search engines, state and county pages) are very
sensitive concerning certain information, especially place names.
Please type the complete description of locations throughout the
submission form. Follow this example, "Omaha,
Douglas County, NE".
NO ABBREVIATIONS other than the US state postal code. If you do not
know the county name for the place you are searching for, please use this
link: Geographic
Names Information System.

C. Please
do not put additional information in the location descriptions, there is a
place for that at the end of the form.

D. At
least one migration step is required. It must not be the same as the
birthplace. If a person lived their entire life in one place, they
can be added in the additional information field of a parent or child who
moved at some time. Migrations is designed to track movements and simply can not accept every person who ever lived.

E. You
must include dates. If you don't know for sure, type "Abt." and
then an approximate year. If "John Smith" was in the 1860
census, and his widow appeared in 1870, the date of death would be
"1860-1870". Other date abbreviations are "bef."
for before and "aft." for after. All dates must end in 4
digits for future search implementations.

F. Please
put additional information in the Additional Information Field, not in the
place name or date fields.

G. If migratory path started or took your ancestor out
of the USA, please include that step. This is an international
project. We will accept entries between any places.

H.
Different people require different entries, including spouses, parents and
children.

I.
Movements that don't mesh with reality will be treated as spam and
deleted. A man who died in 1850 can not move to Hawaii in
1960. Nor did he or anybody else with an English name move to
Tuscola County, MI in 1680 or Virginia in 1360. For the data to be
useful it must be as accurate as possible. These types of entries
can not be accurate. Please
check you entries before you confirm them to eliminate typos!

J.
There is a temporary issue concerning quotation marks. We are
working to eliminate the problem as best we can, but if something doesn't
look right on the confirmation page, please go back and eliminate
quotation marks, and replace them with "up arrows" (^, made by
holding down shift and typing 6).

3. Failure
to adhere to these instructions means an administrator must fix your entry
to maintain consistency in the database and insure search integrity. It
also means approval of your entry will be delayed until an administrator
can look at it, possibly e-mail you back for clarification of what you
meant and fix it. PLEASE help us create a truly useful tool for your
genealogical research by adhering to these instructions. Thank you.

"I submitted my entry and slash marks appeared on the confirmation page. Why?"

There is an issue concerning quotation marks and apostrophes. We are working to eliminate the problem as best we can, but if something doesn't look right on the confirmation page, please go back and eliminate quotation marks, and replace them with "up arrows" (^, made by holding down shift and typing 6). Please do not put any punctuation in any name, place or date field. This will result in a loss of data.

"What if
I make a mistake? What if I find out new information? How do I make corrections?"

There are two ways to make corrections and
additions.

1. Submit the whole entry again with all
corrected material, and put a short "Corrected entry" message at
the top of the Additional Information Field. W hen the entry is
approved, it will completely replace the old entry. Please make sure
to include all applicable information. This is the most efficient way.

2. Send your correction to Patrick
Hays, I will
try to get the correction made in a timely manner.

"How do I
search for my relative?"

Access the Migrations Project National Database!

Search in other locations:Use format: Salt Lake County, UT

Search for surnames:All searches are Case sensitive!

1. In any similar
search form enter the name of the location you are searching for or the name
that you are searching for. Things to keep in mind:

A. The Location search is case sensitive. "salt Lake couNty, uT"
would return 0 entries, however "Salt Lake County, UT" is a good
search term, and there are entries that will be found.

B. State names must use 2 digit postal abbreviation.
"Washington" will return entries showing all towns or counties in
the entire country that have "Washington" in their name, however,
"WA" will return all entries for the state of Washington. An
exception to this is Washington, DC, which is abbreviated DC to avoid
confusion with the counties and state.

C. A surname search will also search the "Additional Information"
field of the entry.

2. The search
table above works, as well as the searches available from the main
Migrations page and several of the state and county pages. There are
also Migrations searches that are available that are on non-Migrations
pages. Feel free to use any of them, or create your own!

"Who owns this
data?"

If you provide it, you own it. If you request it to be
removed, it will be. We hope, however, that you would never feel a need to remove
material. Our only goal here is to provide the information needed to do research from
home.

Migrations Small Print
Migrations.org is an unincorporated noncommercial research project. The
mission of Migrations.org is to (a) provide genealogical and historical
internet researchers and educators with links to online migration and
genealogical sources; and (b) administer a searchable public database
that collects and analyzes migration data, providing migration patterns
for genealogical, historical and educational research. Migrations.org'
all-volunteer staff consists of a national coordinator, national
assistant coordinators, local level coordinators, and support personnel.
Migrations.org is hosted by Prohosting.
c 2000 Patrick Hays, Migrations